Chennai:
As part of efforts to reach out to states opposed to the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the Centre on Tuesday invited Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for the May 5 meeting to discuss the issue.
Home Minister P Chidambaram wrote to Jayalalithaa, saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had received three of her letters in this regard.
The Prime Minister and he himself were of the view that the subjects listed in the agenda are important subjects and deserve to be discussed at the annual meeting, he said.
"Meanwhile, the issue of NCTC arose after your letter dated February 17, 2012, and letters from some other Chief Ministers. We therefore included NCTC as a specific subject in the agenda and we were confident that we would be able to devote as much time as may be required to discuss the subject.
However, since you have requested a separate meeting on NCTC, the Prime Minister has indicated that Saturday, May 5, 2012 would be convenient to him and asked me to convey the same to the Chief Ministers and request the Chief Ministers to kindly attend another meeting on May 5, 2012," he said.
The agenda already circulated could be discussed on April 16 and NCTC on May 5, Mr Chidambaram said.
"I shall be grateful if you could kindly make a note of both April 16 and May 5, 2012 and confirm your participation in both meetings," he said.
Jayalalithaa, besides her West Bengal and Odisha counterparts Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik, are opposed to NCTC, saying it was against the federal structure.
Mr Chidambaram had earlier written to Banerjee, inviting her for the May 5 meeting.